{"id":31015,"date":"2018-11-30T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T14:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/11\/30\/the-power-of-pot-design-good-aesthetics-great-dispensaries\/"},"modified":"2018-11-30T12:55:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T20:55:28","slug":"the-power-of-pot-design-good-aesthetics-great-dispensaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2018\/11\/30\/the-power-of-pot-design-good-aesthetics-great-dispensaries\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Pot Design: Good Aesthetics, Great Dispensaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Full of light and tailored with unique, quirky details, Megan Stone\u2019s luxurious interior designs feel more like spas or five-star restaurants than old-school dispensaries. That\u2019s because every aspect of the experience has been thoughtfully designed and honed to aesthetic perfection.<\/p>\n

In the early days of cannabis dispensaries, design wasn\u2019t a big factor. Most dispensaries were small, dark rooms with display cases full of cannabis. You\u2019d enter into a highly secured waiting room, check-in through a window of bullet-proof glass and wait for a security guard to open a thick metal door into the windowless retail space. The experience felt more like visiting a prison than going shopping.<\/p>\n

These days, all of that is changing. As cannabis legalization continues to create a more legitimate commercial industry,\u00a0dispensaries<\/a>\u00a0are becoming retail storefronts and are working hard to set themselves apart with innovative and elegant designs. Stone and her company\u00a0High Road<\/a>\u00a0are at the forefront of this high-end design movement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Megan Stone uses themes to tell a dispensary\u2019s story within her interior designs. At Gnome Grown, a gnome appears in several different places within the dispensary, including the door handle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Stone first noticed the need for cannabis-specific designers while working at as the general manager of two dispensaries in Orange County,\u00a0California<\/a>\u00a0during design school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalking into a dispensary was supposed to be the coolest shopping experience I ever got to have, and yet it was really one of the most anticlimactic and biggest let-downs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Noticing that there weren\u2019t many designers specifically focused on designing the interiors for dispensaries, she then decided to launch her own business focused on just that.<\/p>\n

The results have been incredible. Stone\u2019s designs (which can be found in dispensaries across the country) are a big departure from dispensaries of the past. Some examples include\u00a0TruMed<\/a>, a hip hash bar in Arizona, and\u00a0Minerva<\/a>, a New Mexico dispensary dubbed the first cannabis mall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gnome Grown dispensary in Oregon City features an open floor plan and light color palate to make visitors feel welcome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

High Road starts to work with clients by focusing on what makes each dispensary unique.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we land on that particular different, unique, authentic part of their story, we build the entire brand and retail experience around that,\u201d Stone said.<\/p>\n

The next step in the process is interior space planning, which Stone says is key for cannabis retail.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be mindful to the fact that there\u2019s many types of customers that come into these stores and there\u2019s ways of setting up these environments to cater to all of those different people\u2019s needs,\u201d she said. \u201c[The lobby] is a huge opportunity for our industry to paint a different picture of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Departing from the small, security-focused waiting rooms of the past, Stone often works with frameless glass partitions to create space and transparency in her designs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Through her company High Road, Megan Stone works on creating beautiful interior designs for cannabis dispensaries across the country. Photo by Caleb Alvarado.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI think having that sense of openness helps the psychology of the environment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stone also has to make sure that her layout works for practical concerns such as incorporating local security regulations and best practices for preventing theft. With the layout complete, she then moves onto the aesthetic design, weaving the \u201cbrand story\u201d into the space with personal touches and details.<\/p>\n

When it comes to previous design projects, Stone says she loves those that are based on a personal story.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnes that truly stayed in my heart were the Gnome Grown stores we built last year,\u201d she said about the\u00a0dispensary<\/a>\u00a0with two locations in Oregon City. \u201cThese two stores are simply magical when you walk inside of them. From the little powder-coated steel gnome head that greets you on the door handle, to the plaid that you see on the back of the display cases, it\u2019s such an authentic, unique space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the design, the High Road team oversees the process of putting it all together and stays involved once the store is open to ensure every aspect of the dispensary\u2019s business (from marketing material to branded swag) is seamlessly integrated into the aesthetic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power of design in changing perceptions and influencing behavior is a force the cannabis industry must not underestimate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

TELL US,\u00a0<\/b>what makes you feel at home when you\u2019re visiting a dispensary?<\/p>\n

Originally published in Issue 32 of Cannabis Now<\/i>.\u00a0LEARN MORE<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

The post The Power of Pot Design: Good Aesthetics, Great Dispensaries<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n
\nRead More: The Power of Pot Design: Good Aesthetics, Great Dispensaries<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full of light and tailored with unique, quirky details, Megan Stone\u2019s luxurious interior designs feel more like spas or five-star restaurants than old-school dispensaries. That\u2019s because every aspect of the experience has been thoughtfully designed and honed to aesthetic perfection. In the early days of cannabis dispensaries, design wasn\u2019t aContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":31016,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[148,50,1026,99,141,6621,85,5279,4480,185],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31017,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions\/31017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}